The best players ever (Graf and Federer), and players with strong forehands in general, rely on this pattern a lot. This also solves the problem of defending the backhand. (Although both players were also susceptible to a perfect BTL - and it had to be perfect since it was going to their stronger forehand side - from the opponent, which is a difficult shot to execute that well even for players who excel in it.)

A good point - how many times did Safin with his famous down-the-line BH beat Federer? Maybe twice out of twenty... and the same situation with Graf and Davenport.

Nov 28th, 2012 03:22 PM

chuvack

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

Exactly. It's very difficult to run around the backhand the same way as the forehand. The forehand is a more dynamic and linear shot with a naturally bigger strike zone, and one that you can skip around and make a lot of adjustments with even as you are preparing your stroke. On the other hand the backhand requires more stability, and in particular, the double handed backhand is more of a rotational shot and so requires the feet to be set for optimal hitting. As for the one handed backhand, because the stroke requires a large relaxed swing with a lot of room, and the nature of the inside-out stroke is that the ball comes into your body and tends to jam it a little, this makes the already difficult timing even more difficult. It's not surprising that the 1HBH on-the-run out wide is the easiest 1HBH shot for most people to execute, from pros to amateurs.

I was just going to say that as a rule it's better to be a FH than a BH player since a FH is easier to bring to bear as the footwork required to hit a BH is more complex and much less forgiving of last-minute adjustments in positioning, but in the above paragraph you'll find a much more detailed explanation of this. Bolded part is a very well made and very important point.

Nov 21st, 2012 12:21 PM

Shonami Slam

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

brilliant BHs are posh, and so am I.

Nov 20th, 2012 11:28 PM

Pie800

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

Personally speaking (I'm a lefty), I have/had a wicked backhand, high consistency shot that I hit very flat and hard. My forehand meanwhile isn't the greatest. I suppose I wouldn't change things if I had the choice.

Nov 20th, 2012 10:38 PM

Cajka

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

you'll see players hitting what so-called "inside-out" or "outside-out" backhands, but it's not even similar to inside-out and inside-in forehands, because they don't literally run around their fhs.

Nov 20th, 2012 09:38 PM

Dominic

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

quality-wise we see a lot more players with better BH than FH, so if I had the best BH in the tour I would own probably one of the greatest weapon against the majority of players as they couldn't hurt me with BH CC and I could expose their FH by going BTL.

This depends on what you mean by quality, if you mean more power, more winners more agressive etc, the forehand thumps the backhand on ATP and WTA.

Nov 20th, 2012 04:53 PM

ViennaCalling

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

Tamira did it twice

Nov 19th, 2012 04:46 AM

NashaMasha

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

It is traditionally considered that a great forehand can help a player, open up the court with unusual court patterns for e.g the inside out and inside in forehand.

The same can be achieved with a backhand, however not many players with the exception of the Williams sisters have achieved this. Nadal is an example of a player who generates the pattern from the left hand side though from his forehand.

Nov 18th, 2012 10:37 PM

miffedmax

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

Neither would do me any good as I would completely fail my first doping/drug test.

Nov 18th, 2012 06:38 PM

moby

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

I've seen plenty of players run around their backhand and hit a forhand winner. I only recall seeing one run around her forehand and belt a backhand winner and that was Justine up a set and two breaks on clay and in the mood to show off.

Exactly. It's very difficult to run around the backhand the same way as the forehand. The forehand is a more dynamic and linear shot with a naturally bigger strike zone, and one that you can skip around and make a lot of adjustments with even as you are preparing your stroke. On the other hand the backhand requires more stability, and in particular, the double handed backhand is more of a rotational shot and so requires the feet to be set for optimal hitting. As for the one handed backhand, because the stroke requires a large relaxed swing with a lot of room, and the nature of the inside-out stroke is that the ball comes into your body and tends to jam it a little, this makes the already difficult timing even more difficult. It's not surprising that the 1HBH on-the-run out wide is the easiest 1HBH shot for most people to execute, from pros to amateurs.

Nov 18th, 2012 05:40 PM

Coco Hero

Re: Would you rather have the best backhand or best forehand in the women's game?

quality-wise we see a lot more players with better BH than FH, so if I had the best BH in the tour I would own probably one of the greatest weapon against the majority of players as they couldn't hurt me with BH CC and I could expose their FH by going BTL.

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